Tainted: Book Three - Enslaved

11. Masterfully Handled, Caveman

Rome

Gathering everyone around the table, I asked Kerry to play the recording of the conversation with Kasparian.

We listened to it together for the first time, the kid's phone on the table and the volume cranked.

"I feel so bad for your friend." Gigi was in tears by the end of it.

"He's not my friend," Kerry replied, "but, yeah. I do, too."

"Who's the girl you asked about?" Jax asked. "The one the necromancer killed?"

"Zoe was one of our teammates," I explained. "She was a bibliothecary and had the blessing of transmutation. Anyway, about a year and a half ago, she started dating a guy we knew was into something Diabolical. We tried to tell her, but that didn't go so well. It pushed her further away from us. Six months later, she returned from a date as a zombie."

"She tried to kill me," Chance said. "Even though I know it wasn't her in that body anymore, it was still ... disturbing."

"You had to destroy her?" Mira laid a hand on my arm.

I nodded and looked away.

It had been one of the worst days of my life.

"Yeah, he did," Chance said. "No coming back from zombie-ness. At least, not that I've ever heard."

"I talked to Zoe's boyfriend at The Box." Kerry looked at Chance. "He said the black magician, named Khaydari, ordered him to date Zoe. He didn't say how Khaydari found her. Anyway, she tailored a few small animals into living ones for them, but refused when they wanted to try it with a dead human. She threatened to report them to the Council, so Khaydari zombified her."

The others began throwing out theories when Mira's voice broke through the chatter.

"What else, Kerry?"

I frowned and looked at Kerry's face. Oh, yeah, the kid was definitely holding something back.

"Nothing," he muttered.

"What did the apprentice tell you that you don't want to tell us?" I groused.

"Nothing," he insisted.

"What is it?" Gigi knelt next to him and turned on the ole puppy dog eyes.

I snorted.

No way he'll hold out against that. Complete cave coming up.

"He convinced her to steal a book for Khaydari," he said.

"And?" Gigi encouraged him.

"The apprentice didn't know what it was about, but he didn't think the wardens recovered it. He said it didn't come up during the trial."

"And?"

He squirmed for a moment, then let it all out in a rush.

"She stole the book from the Vault."

"From the Vault?" I repeated. "That's impossible."

"And it's still missing?" Jax asked.

"Far as I know. Travis is investigating, though," Kerry said. "I talked to John after breakfast and they're on it. And they're finding out about the college the Hublers went to."

"Did Kas ever tell you which school his daughter attended?" Gigi asked.

"I didn't even know he had a daughter until last night." Kerry shrugged.

"How does this all tie together?" Mira looked from me to Kerry. "Or are we trying to force puzzle pieces to fit when they really don't?

"No way to tell yet." Chance shook his head. "Gathering information is the easy part. It's synthesizing it that sucks."